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Good afternoon dakkadakka.

Throughout the past 2 decades, as a child then a teenager, I have looked upon White Dwarf magazines and through Games Workshop windows in awe and fascination wanting to delve into the 40k hobbie. Now in my mid 20's I find myself in a position that I can do just that. I started collecting Dark Angels mid 2015 and from the very beginning put forward planning into which models I wanted to purchase for my first 1000 point list. I now have that list fully painted almost a year later. I have played entirely against Tyranids and have had a 50% victory rate with battles.

I post my list here with the desire for constructive criticism on how I might improve my list. Not necessarily to improve my chances against a Tyranid swarm. But in a general sense. Am I wasting points on particular units or upgrades? Have I made any pointless choices in my list? Any advice or criticism will be most welcomed.

HQ

Librarian -
Terminator Armour.
Stormbolter.
Powersword.
Mastery Lvl2.
Shroud of Heroes. (140pts)

ELITE

Dreadnought -
Assault Cannon.
Heavy Flamer. (120pts)

TROOP

Tactical Squad -
+5 Marines.
Plasma Cannon.
Plasma Gun. (170pts)


Tactical Squad -
+5 Marines.
Plasma Cannon.
Plasma Gun. (170pts)

FAST ATTACK

Ravenwing Landspeeder -
Assault Cannon.
Heavy Bolter. (70pts)

Ravenwing Bike Squad -
x2 Meltaguns.
Powersword. (110pts)

Assault Squad -
x5 Jump packs.
Flamer. (90pts)

HEAVY SUPPORT

Devastator Squad -
x4 Missle Launchers (130pts)

Welcome to Dakka and 40k.

(grain of salt: I’m an Ultramarine player, so can just give generic SM advice)

Your list looks pretty balanced as it is. A few questions/tweaks/personal preference things:

Where is your librarian going? He’s a little out of place as the only guy in TDA.

Your dread might benefit from a drop pod. But is not a bad load out for just strolling up the table. Although the fact that he’s one of two vehicles in your lists suggests that he might just eat a lascannon early in the game. Armor saturation helps a lot with dread survivability.

Your tac squads want transports. Pretty much anything would work, there are pros/cons to all of them. I like to put full 10 man squads in rhinos. If you plan on combat squadding them (pretty much the only option if going with PCs) razors work well. Pods are high risk/high reward, but work very well most of the time.

Tac squads spend a lot of time on the move. So IMHO PCs, with their inability to snap-fire, are one of the bad choices here. If you want to use the minis, they might be better served in the dev squad. Getting the sarge a matching combi to the squad’s special is a good idea generally.

I like TML/HB speeders, but that should work OK. While speeders can be a lot of fun, if there is something that could be cut for points, this guy would probably be my first choice. Those points could buy a pair of rhinos for your tac squads.

The bike sarge could use a c-melta over a power sword. Can you take MM attack bikes in the squad as DA? Depending on your definition of “reliably” it takes 3-5 melta shots to pop a tank.

I field my assault marines with jump packs, 2 flamers and a vet sarge with a power sword. Not sure what your options are. The sarge does most of the heavy lifting in CC. Flamers help thin out the chaff.

MLs are generically mediocre. Frag missiles are generally a waste of time, so if you want AV work, might as well spring for the LC. If your primary foe is ‘nids, the MLs might be all you need. And if the battlefield is carpeted with little gribbly bugs, frags can work. Now that I think about it, the only time in the last decade I actually got use out of frags was when a pair of my TML/HB speeders did unseemly things to some sort of gaunt squad scabbeling across the table.

ven dread or bust, more then 3 guys in a bike squad or bust.

the ven dread simply lives longer and does more for the 20 point increase.

the bikes, i mean if you take a single wound and its leadership check and running a potential 2d6 back to your deployment edge. thats a brutal brutal way to lose them. 4+ guys in a team minimum in fact tbh 5 is where id start to feel safe (or 4 with a trike)

 Nevelon wrote:


Where is your librarian going? He’s a little out of place as the only guy in TDA.
.

The idea behind this was having my Libby sat with the Dev Squad using Divination to increase their chances of killing something in Turn 1. As for the TDA that's to help deny my opponent Slay The Warlord points.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ionusx wrote:
ven dread or bust, more then 3 guys in a bike squad or bust.

the ven dread simply lives longer and does more for the 20 point increase.

the bikes, i mean if you take a single wound and its leadership check and running a potential 2d6 back to your deployment edge. thats a brutal brutal way to lose them. 4+ guys in a team minimum in fact tbh 5 is where id start to feel safe (or 4 with a trike)

Where would you advise dropping points to accommodate these changes?

I have been considering buying a Venerable Dreadnought and loading him out with a LC. Also more Ravenwing Bikers. I hope for 2 full squads (minus trikes) in the coming months.

nowehere really tbh, maybe something to do down the line, you could try lowering some of the tacticals to a 5 man team and then taking the leftover 65 points for a second land speeder? or maybe a whirlwind

I would invest into Black Knights if you want Ravenwings or Deathwing for terminators. Playing DA you want to run them.

Following this link its from 1d4chan and they break down the units and tactics. Try to invest into the formations because of the benefits but this is also all up to you and how you want to play.

https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Dark_Angels%287E%29#Elites